We Acediasts

We Acediasts are a Japanese group with an expat New York guitarist playing barely tethered, abrasive, avant punk-funk. They formed in Tokyo in 2000 and broke up in 2002. The first two tracks on the first full-length album Pre Acediasts were produced by DFA in New York in 2001 and sound like edgier precursors to The Rapture, with their co-opting of dubby PiL-style basslines, scratchy guitars and Masaki Takamoto's ranting vocals.

The abrasiveness of the playing is offset by the muffled warmth of DFA's production, which emphasizes the shuddering grooves to good effect, leaving the group sounding at once disorientating and on the one. The remaining six tracks were recorded in Tokyo the previous year by the Pre Acediasts duo of Justin Simon and Takamoto and sound harsher and more pared back, with pulsating grooves, piercing electronic noises and jabbering, echoing vocals.